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10/23/2017

Treasurer Josh Mandel Announces Launch of Mercer County Local Government Checkbooks on OhioCheckbook.com

Momentum Grows for Statewide Government Transparency with Over 1,235 Local Government and School Districts Partnering with OhioCheckbook.com

Press Release - Ohio Treasurer's Office

COLUMBUS– Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel announced today the launch of the Village of Montezuma, Recovery Township and Hopewell Township’s online checkbooks on OhioCheckbook.com. In December 2014, Treasurer Mandel launched OhioCheckbook.com, which sets a new national standard for government transparency and for the first time in Ohio history puts all state spending information on the internet. OhioCheckbook.com recently earned Ohio the number one government transparency ranking in the country for the second year in a row.

Montezuma is the fourth village in Mercer County to post their spending on OhioCheckbook.com. Recovery Township and Hopewell Township are the first townships in Mercer County to post their spending on OhioCheckbook.com.

The following is a breakdown of today’s local government sites:

•Montezuma’s online checkbook includes over 1,000 individual transactions that represent more than $127,000 of total spending over the past four years.
•Recovery Township’s online checkbook includes over 1,900 individual transactions that represent more than $890,000 of total spending over the past four years.
•Hopewell Township’s online checkbook includes over 1,700 individual transactions that represent more than $930,000 of total spending over the past four years.

“I believe the people of Mercer County have a right to know how their tax money is being spent, and I applaud local leaders here for partnering with my office to post the finances on OhioCheckbook.com,” said Treasurer Mandel. “By posting local government spending online, we are empowering taxpayers across Ohio to hold public officials accountable.”

“The Village of Montezuma is proud to join other local governments in Mercer County as leaders in transparency,” said Montezuma Fiscal Officer Andrea Heimkreiter. “We believe the checkbook application will open lines of communication with our citizens and enhance dialogue at monthly council meetings.”

On April 7, 2015 Treasurer Mandel sent a letter to 18,062 local government and school officials representing 3,962 local governments throughout the state calling on them to place their checkbook level data on OhioCheckbook.com and extending an invitation to partner with his office at no cost to local governments. These local governments include cities, counties, townships, schools, library districts and other special districts.

A large coalition of statewide and local government organizations have expressed support for OhioCheckbook.com and local government transparency, including:

OhioCheckbook.com was launched on December 2, 2014, marking the first time in Ohio history when citizens could actually see every expenditure in state government. Since its launch, OhioCheckbook.com has received overwhelming support from newspapers and groups across the state and, as of October 16, 2017 there have been more than 838,000 total searches on the site.

OhioCheckbook.com displays more than $621 billion in spending over the past ten years, including more than 168 million transactions. The website includes cutting-edge features such as:

•“Google-style” contextual search capabilities, to allow users to sort by keyword, department, category or vendor;
•Fully dynamic interactive charts to drill down on state spending;
•Functionality to compare state spending year-over-year or among agencies; and,
•Capability to share charts or checks with social media networks, and direct contact for agency fiscal offices.

In March 2015, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) released their annual “Following the Money 2015” report and Treasurer Mandel earned Ohio the number one transparency ranking in the country for providing online access to government spending data. Ohio was prominently featured in the report after climbing from 46th to 1st in spending transparency as a result of Treasurer Mandel’s release of OhioCheckbook.com. Due to the launch of OhioCheckbook.com, Ohio received a perfect score of 100 points this year – the highest score in the history of the U.S. PIRG transparency rankings.

In April 2016, U.S. PIRG announced that Treasurer Mandel earned Ohio the number one government transparency ranking in the country for the second consecutive year in a row. Due to the launch of OhioCheckbook.com, Ohio again received the highest perfect score of 100 points this year – marking the second time in two years Ohio received the highest possible score in the history of the U.S. PIRG transparency rankings.

The Treasurer’s office is partnering with OpenGov, a leading Silicon Valley government technology company, to provide residents of Ohio the ability to view and search local government expenditures in a user-friendly, digital format. “Ohio is setting the standard for financial transparency on an unprecedented scale. We are excited to partner with the Treasurer’s office to bring world-class technology to communities large and small across the state,” said Zachary Bookman, CEO of OpenGov.

For more information or to view your local government website, visit the Local Government option on OhioCheckbook.com or click on: